Then Lucy Bellwoodis your jam. Billing herself as an “adventure cartoonist” the Portland OR-based artist has chronicled her adventures in many comics, everything from rafting down the Grand Canyon and spending three weeks mapping the floor of the Pacific on a research vessel. With copious diagrams and labels, you might call her the Lucy Knisley of the High Seas. She has a Medium page with some of her Patreon-supported diary comics including this one, A Week at Sea with OHP a diary comic about her six days aboard the Oliver Hazard Perry, a training vessel for sailing tall ships.

Confession: I come from a nautical New England family, and hospital corners have been a long dreamed of (and rarely achieved) goal for as long as I can remember.

While I love the loose, lively diary style of OHP other comics, like Mappin’ the Floor her account of her oceanographic journey, have a more picture book ready style:

Heidi MacDonald is the founder and editor in chief of The Beat. In the past, she worked for Disney, DC Comics, Fox and Publishers Weekly. She can be heard regularly on the More To Come Podcast. She likes coffee, cats and noble struggle.